EU structure

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This subtopic contains a range of resources on the structure and functions of EU institutions, as well as the EU legal system and core principles.

EU institutions

The EU institutional framework consists of seven main institutions that each represent different interests and have been allocated executive, legislative, judicial and other powers. The main EU institutions are:

  1. •

    the European Council

  2. •

    the European Parliament

  3. •

    the European Commission

  4. •

    the Council of the European Union

  5. •

    the Court of Justice of the European Union

  6. •

    the European Central Bank

  7. •

    the European Court of Auditors

The European Council sets the EU's overall political direction, but has no powers to pass laws. It comprises national heads of state or government and meets for a few days at a time every four to six months to decide on broad political priorities and major initiatives. The European Council makes decisions by consensus, except if the EU Treaties provide otherwise. For further reading, see Practice Note: Guide to the European Council.

There are three main institutions involved in EU legislation:

  1. •

    the European Parliament, at which elected MEPs represent European citizens

  2. •

    the

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Latest EU Law News

EU Law weekly highlights—21 November 2024

This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes analysis on the European AI Office’s draft General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court decision confirming its international jurisdiction, the judgment that 3D inhaler trade mark cannot be restored by Boehringer, the ruling that Ukraine border service cannot get an EU trade mark for its war slogan, Meta being fined €798m for tying marketplace ads to Facebook, and the role of acceptable use policies in AI, In addition, this week the 2025 EU annual budget was agreed, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation to shut down European Online Dispute Resolution platform, adopted a ban on forced labour products in Union market, and approved the certification framework for carbon removals, the European Parliament endorsed the postponement of the deforestation rules, the European Commission proposed a single digital portal for posted worker declarations, and the EU Cyber Resilience Act and EU Listing Acts were published in the Official Journal.

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